Contagion Live News Network: Coronavirus Updates for March 27, 2020

Welcome to the Contagion Live News Network. I’m Grant Gallagher and this is the COVID-19 Update for Friday, March 27, 2020.

While Italy surpassed China in confirmed COVID-19 cases yesterday, the United States is now the country with the highest number of confirmed cases at over 97,000.

Many US COVID-19 cases continue to be concentrated in New York, which has over 44,000 cases, but New Jersey now has above 8,000.

Globally, there have been over 585,000 confirmed cases, 26,800 deaths, and about 130,000 recoveries reported.

The US House of Representatives passed the 2 trillion dollar coronavirus economic stimulus bill that the senate passed earlier this week. The final step for the legislation is to be signed by President Trump. (Editorial note: shortly after airing this segment, President Trump signed the bill.)

In international news, the Solidarity Clinical Trial, which will explore the safety & effectiveness of four different treatments against COVID-19, has begun to enroll its first patients. There are currently no approved medications which are known to work against the coronavirus. Ultimately, more than 45 countries will be involved in the international effort to identify an effective treatment.

On Contagion®, ERIN K. MCCREARY, PHARMD, BCPS, BCIDP AND JASON M. POGUE, PHARMD, BCPS, BCID, of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists collaborated to provide us with updates from recent days on experimental treatments for COVID-19.

For more on these stories and the latest infectious disease news, visit Contagionlive.com. To track the spread of COVID-19 and other outbreaks, use the Contagion Outbreak Monitor.

For the Contagion Live News Network, I’m Grant Gallagher. Thanks for listening.